While Miss Scarlet And The Duke season three spent a lot of time highlighting Eliza’s challenges with cases, and her conflicted feelings over William appearing to move on with his life and career, the season overall spent less time developing Moses’ character. This trend is a problem because Moses fans were already disappointed in season two only teasing secondary plot lines for his character. So much of the fan conversation has been around Eliza and Williams’ “will they won’t they” which makes concerns about Moses’ storyline less visible.
The season finale cliffhanger leaves Moses fans, especially Black and POC fans of his, with even less hope that the character will have more screen time in season four (or even return at all). While Nash’s offer of a job in Paris means that Moses’ expertise and skill set is finally being recognized, this also means that for many fans their number one reason for watching the series may disappear. Several viewers on Twitter last night expressed their confusion or disappointment that he may be leaving the show.
Before this issue is analyzed, there is of course a necessary caveat. Many fans of Miss Scarlet And The Duke and other MASTERPIECE series do not read pre-premiere articles that discuss filming developments or plot details because they want to avoid spoilers. Moses fans are assuming that Ansu Kabia was able to film scenes in every episode of the season. If fans knew ahead of time that Covid, other illnesses, or schedule conflicts were roadblocks, they would naturally be more sympathetic and understanding.
In 2016, Slate published a list of six signs if a Black character is more of a trope than a three dimensional character and I’m using this as a framework to talk about season three. Some of these tropes do not apply to Moses regardless because they are either based on genre, about the end of a character’s story, or are specific to being the main character.
While fans enjoy that he can stop perps from attacking Eliza, if Moses’ sole function in the show is to be her savior, then Season 3 is an example of the “ magical negro” trope. This trope may have magic in the name, but it also refers to dramas where there are no supernatural elements. It should be noted that this specific phenomenon has been well documented and discussed in American media but far less so in UK TV shows and films. Moses teaching Fitztroy to bare-knuckle box is another example of his skills only being used to further the storylines of white characters.
Although Clementine the occasionally observant sex worker with 5 other sisters with the same name makes an appearance in Season 3, we still haven’t seen Moses interact with many other Black characters. The exception is Solomon, who only appears when our detectives need information on jewelry or weapons. This is an aspect of the DuVernay test which can be used to evaluate Black characters on screen. However, the British class system during the Victorian Era did affect community building among BIPOC. Employment and immigration status separated people. In addition, Moses is not married, which prevents him from establishing a link to other BIPOC.
Moses became a fan favorite during Season 1 because he defied stereotypes and period mystery tropes. He was not a violent offender or a helpless victim, but a man who had to bend the rules because the law and society were rigged against him. He represented history that was ignored by previous dramas set in the Victorian Era. Fans hoped future episodes would show his adventures outside of his interactions with Eliza and William.
Season 3, unfortunately, relegates Moses to spot appearances and only hints of exciting episode arcs. It is ironic that despite how few scenes Moses was in this season, fans found out so many details of his backstory. We find out his last name is Valentine in Episode 5. In Episode 6 we find out during the bomb plot investigation that he was born in Manchester, Jamaica, and moved to London to escape some sort of danger before the story started. Moses has also lived in Spain, and knows enough Greek to de-escalate angry mobsters. All of these little nuggets of information have kept fans on the edge of their seats for more. These spot appearances have the unintended consequence of being potential examples of harmful storytelling tropes around race, like the “magical negro” trope. These developments are examples of how unconscious bias affects the writing process.
Addressing Moses’ characterization in future episodes — if he doesn’t take up Nash’s offer — is not a quick fix, especially as no one can completely control variables such as schedules and illness. What can be done is to hire sensitivity readers, script editors, and Black screenwriters in the earlier stages of script development in order to detect unconscious bias before viewers see these plotlines. Writing with intention and care is the way forward.
If Moses departs Miss Scarlet and the Duke, fans will lose their breath of fresh air in a genre that desperately needs more productions to reverse past erasure. We can only hope, if this is the case, that more BlPOC characters are introduced in future episodes.
